CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The ChuChuTrain reached the end of the line Wednesday on
Jeopardy! as Arthur Chu, done in by cynicism (no, really, that was the word
that sent him off the rails), saw his 11-game win streak end. He wound up as the third-winningest player in the game show's history.

His official winnings were $297,200, but he got a $1,000
consolation prize for finishing in third place Wednesday (which Jeopardy! does not consider "winnings," but still spends). That bumps his take to $298,200.

"So close to $300,000. That hurt. I wanted to make it. But I
was $1,800 short. I can make $1,800 someplace else," said Chu, who watched the
show in New York as it aired at 7 p.m. He was preparing for an appearance on ABC's
"Good Morning America" Thursday morning.

"It's been an amazing run," he said. "This last couple of
months has been one of the coolest experiences of my life."

Jeopardy! champion Arthur ChuDennis Manoloff, Michael McIntyre, and Chris Fedor talk to Jeopardy! Champ Arthur Chu about how he got on the show, his preparation, unique strategy, what he thinks of "Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek

Chu actually only spent three days taping in November. His
11 wins were spaced out, television-wise, for more than a month because of
breaks for various Jeopardy! tournaments. That allowed the legend of the
#ChuChuTrain to grow on Twitter. Chu live tweeted during the New York broadcast, at 7 p.m., before the Cleveland showing, but news of his loss already was out because the show had run earlier in the day in other markets.

"The whole experience of watching Jeopardy! was so much of a
bigger thing than playing," he said.

Chu gained national attention early for his unorthodox
manner, hopping all over the game board in search of Daily Doubles (which he
usually found), furiously thumbing the buzzer, interrupting host Alex Trebek
and making wagers based on game theory and not random thought. He often
waged all he had and doubled up. Once he bet $5 in a sports category Daily
Double, and quickly dispensed with the answer by saying "I don't know."

When his final game ended, he had a big zero in front of him, having
failed to correctly answer the Final Jeopardy! question. "But before that
point," Chu said, "I knew the game was lost."

Chu said fatigue took a toll on him. What most people don't
know is that Jeopardy! tapes on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. His first four wins
were on a Wednesday and he went home to Broadview Heights until the following
Tuesday. On that day, he won five straight games. Then returned Wednesday for
more.

"At one point, I was kind of mad because Alex is like, 'Our
champion Arthur had two weeks to rest.' No I didn't. I had NO time to rest."

He said he's got an ever deeper respect for all-time
Jeopardy! champion Ken Jennings and understands why no one had even gotten double-digit wins since 2005.

"I don't know how Ken Jennings was so consistent," said Chu.
"I think he's just a mutant."

Chu, always the strategist, thinks his conqueror, Diana
Peloquin, a graduate student from Ann Arbor, Mich., got an edge because she
watched him in the audience all day Tuesday.

"She says, 'No matter what happens, it was a huge privilege
to watch you.' I have to admit that a lot of my strength came from many people
being intimidated by the number of wins I had. But she came right up. She was
not intimidated," he said.

That fateful "cynicism" answer, in which he wagered all he had, $7,600 in the category of philosophy, was this: "Antisthenes began this -ism with the view that self-interest is the primary motivator of human behavior."

Chu replied "What is egoism?" It was cynicism.

But he holds his head high. The money might take a few
months to arrive, Jeopardy! folks told him.

Matt Kish of Brunswick, with Alex Trebek

"It's seed money for the future," he said. "We'll see."

And he's got celebrity, which isn't such a bad thing for a
guy who wants to act (he's in "Handle With Care" at the Actors' Summit Theater
in Akron), does stand-up comedy and voice-over work.

"At the very least, even if I won no games, I had that first
episode, where Alex says I had a nice voice," said Chu.

Jeopardy! fans will hear that voice again next season as Chu returns for the Tournament of Champions.

And the ride is not over for Northeast Ohio Jeopardy! fans. Thursday
night, Matt Kish, a teacher at North Royalton High School who lives in
Brunswick, tries to unseat Peloquin.

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